Welcome to October’s series on 31 Ways to Earn Extra Cash Before Christmas. In this series, I’m highlighting simple and legitimate ways you can earn extra cash in the next three months for those of you who could use a little extra cash to help you pay for Christmas — or just for your living expenses if you’re in a tight spot right now.

If you’ve found a great way to make extra cash before Christmas that doesn’t require an outlay of cash upfront, please email me your tip. I’d love to hear it and possibly share it during this series!

A couple of years ago, an acquaintance called me and asked if I would like to take her cleaning job while she was in the South for the winter. I hadn’t cleaned professionally before, so I didn’t know what to expect. But once I started, I quickly found that cleaning can be a wonderful way to earn extra money.

Since then I have acquired three more cleaning jobs and have passed a few others on to my friends.

How to get started:

Talk to someone you know who cleans office buildings or homes. See if they have any jobs they can refer to you. If you aren’t able to clean regularly but need a little extra money, perhaps they would let you sub for them when they are sick or on vacation.

If you don’t know anyone in the cleaning business, make ads and flyers and pass them out to friends, neighbors, and local businesses.

Purchase some supplies:

Office buildings usually stock the cleaning supplies, but my residential clients prefer that I bring my own. I look for BOGO sales and coupon deals on cleaning solutions and stock up.

I make sure to have clorox wipes, clean rags, toilet bowl cleaner, Dr. Bronner’s soap, glass and window spray, bathroom cleaner, and disinfectant spray on hand. I also carry a little bucket for mopping and my Norwex cloths, which I LOVE!

Also, there’s no need to spend a fortune on cleaning tools. I use my faithful old Dirt Devil vacuum that I’ve owned for 10 years and it works great.

Hone your cleaning skills:

If I’m not sure how to clean something, I ask my fellow cleaning friends for tips or google it. I also occasionally watch cleaning videos on YouTube.

After cleaning sinks, counters, and toilets I will buff with a clean, dry cloth to make them extra-shiny. I prefer to dust with my Norwex dusting mitt and mop most floors by hand to be able to get the corners of the floor. I also try to be smart about my cleaning. If the building/home doesn’t truly need dusting every week, then one week I will dust, the next I will clean blinds.

Be choosy:

Some office cleaning jobs require that you carry insurance. Some residential homes are too filthy to handle. Some employers may expect more hours out of you than you can give or may not compensate you fairly.

Consider carefully each opportunity that comes your way. Will you have childcare during the hours you need to be cleaning? Will you be required to clean during late hours in areas that could possibly be dangerous? Will you be expected to be “on call” or will it be a set weekly time? If you have a baby keeping you up at night will you have the energy to handle even one cleaning job?

Most office jobs require that you come in when their business is not open, which means early mornings, evenings, or on weekends. Most residential clients want you to come in during daytime hours to clean when they are away at work. Figure out which option works best for your schedule. I only take jobs that allow for my husband to be home with our kids so we don’t have to pay childcare. I also don’t want to clean lonely office buildings when it’s dark out, it creeps me out!

How much to charge?

You don’t want to charge too low and be taken advantage of. After all, cleaning is hard work, it takes a lot of energy, and you are giving of your time to do it. But neither do you want to charge too high and lose all your possible-clients to other cleaners who charge less.

Figure out what the going rate is in your area. In my area people will pay at least $20 an hour. Office jobs generally pay $25-$30 an hour. Some businesses prefer to pay by the job. This is really nice because if you are motivated and fast you can get even more money per hour.

My friend, who also cleans, takes her teenage son with her and he helps gather all of the garbages. So she is able to do a 3 hour job in 2.5 hours and make really good money to help feed her 3 teen boys! Cleaning provides an excellent wage considering the flexible hours and the fact that you don’t need a college degree to do it!

If you are committed to excellence in your work, the jobs will continue flowing in via word-of-mouth recommendations. At this point I work 3-4.5 hours a week and bring in $60-$95 per week.

The kids get to spend time with Daddy while I’m gone and that little bit of extra money helps our tight budget out so much! I also enjoy being able to get out of the house and listen to music or have some quiet time while I clean.

Lindsey Swinborne is a homeschooling mom of four who lives in Wyoming. She loves photography and is thankful for her cleaning jobs which helped her fulfill her dream of having a DSLR camera. She blogs at Faithful Homemaking.

The other day I finally convinced myself to drive 20 miles and check out Hobby Lobby for the first time. Many blogs I read talk about how amazing Hobby Lobby is — not only for their craft supplies, but also for their home décor items.

I’ve seen some beautifully decorated homes with items from Hobby Lobby, so I thought I should check it out and see if I could find some cute things to decorate the little apartment we had just moved in to. I had a coupon in hand and some of my designated “spending cash” ($60 to be exact). The coupon was good for 40% off a regularly priced item.

When I walked into Hobby Lobby, I was immediately overwhelmed. There was so much stuff!

I grabbed a cart and started walking around. I saw some things that were cute and would look nice in our apartment. My favorite was a $19.99 cross that was the same shade of blue as our comforter. I threw it in the cart and kept walking.

But as I was walking, I realized something — I didn’t need anything. Why was I here? There was aton of stuff that I liked, but nothing that I loved. I kept trying to force it. Kept trying to find something that would work.

I called my husband guessing he would tell me to buy a few things and I could always return them. He didn’t, though.

He made me think back to Crystal’s post about not having a lot of things on the walls at her home. “Honey, we don’t need stuff for the walls. I’m happy that we have some wedding pictures and I’m happy living there with you”.

When he said that I put the cross back on the shelf (in the right section, I promise!) and headed to the car.

On my 20 mile drive home, I had an epiphany: Our home is our home. Yes, we want to be comfortable (and we are), but it doesn’t need to look like a Pottery Barn catalog. I keep our apartment clean, organized, and it smells just like fall. And to us, that is just perfect.

I think sometimes everyone needs a little epiphany like I had last weekend. It puts everything into perspective and reminds you that you may not really “need” something!

Elizabeth is a 22 year-old newlywed living in our nation’s capital. She’s a recent college graduate and mom to two miniature poodles. She blogs at The DC Boeses on life as a new young wife!

I have a confession to make. I don’t always come up with my own recipes. I love to peruse magazines and take regular favorites and make them allergy-friendly for my family.

One of my inspirations is Cooking Light magazine. The October issue featured some marvelous quick bread recipes that immediately sucked me in.

I knew I had to start experimenting. So, I did. And, guess what? You are now the beneficiary of said experiment. Just think: a gluten-free banana bread with an ever so wonderful dairy-free (& nut free if you use Sunbutter) “Nutella”.

Directions (do this while the chocolate almond mixture is heating up):

In a large bowl, whisk eggs or EnerG egg replacer.

Add the bananas and mix together until smooth.

Add in the oil and buttermilk; mix until smooth.

Add in the sugar and mix again.

Throw all the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. (You can mix them in a separate bowl first if you want. I never do.) Mix until just combined.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut parchment paper the size of a loaf pan and place in pan.

Pour half the batter into the parchment-lined loaf pan. Pour a thin layer of the chocolate almond sauce over the batter (don’t use all the sauce because you’ll need to drizzle it on top of the bread). Spread the rest of the batter over the chocolate almond sauce.

With a knife or toothpick, gently swirl the batter so that you’re swirling the chocolate almond sauce throughout the bread. Don’t go crazy with this, just give it some good swirling.

Bake for 35 minutes and check for doneness with a toothpick; add on minutes as needed, only a few at a time.

When baking is complete, remove from oven and allow to cool in the loaf pan for about 10 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan by picking up the sides of the parchment paper and allow to cool completely.

Now it’s time to drizzle on all that chocolate goodness!

Make sure your chocolate almond sauce is still smooth; heat up if necessary. Slowly drizzle on the desired amount of chocolate almond sauce over the bread with a spoon. Allow the chocolate to set before cutting into the bread.

Enjoy!

Michelle is blessed to stay home with her three children (ages 10, 7, and 4), while her husband works to provide. When she’s not experimenting with allergy-friendly meals, she’s blogging about it at The Willing Cook. Through the Willing Cook, her hope is that you gain peace of mind in your kitchen (and your pocket book) and are able to serve those you love who suffer with food allergies.

You don’t have to bust your budget to feed your family! Enter Grocery University: a 2 hour, 19 minute audio course that will teach you everything you need to know about making the most of your grocery budget, regardless of whether you’re new to bargain shopping or have been a super-shopper for years.

You don’t have to bust your budget to feed your family! Enter Grocery University: a 2 hour, 19 minute audio course that will teach you everything you need to know about making the most of your grocery budget, regardless of whether you’re new to bargain shopping or have been a super-shopper for years.